Before & After: My Kitchen, Finally Finished!!

Well, it’s finished. I was beginning to think it would never happen, but my kitchen is finished. And it only took three years. Or was it four? Heck, I’ve lost count by now. And I still have a couple of projects to finish for the dining area, so I really am just going to show you the kitchen today. Hopefully I’ll have the dining area completely finished this week, so that’s coming soon. But let’s get on to the before and afters, shall we?

The kitchen was pretty pathetic when we moved in. These condos were built in the 80s, and it didn’t look like a single thing had been updated between then and when we bought the place in July 2006.

It definitely looks a little different now.

You can see the before and after by hovering your pointer over the picture below.

I didn’t want to spend the money on new cabinets, so I just painted the existing ones. It’s amazing what paint can do! I also did a little surgery on the cabinet doors to turn the raised panel doors into recessed panel doors. The raised panel doors (and some of them were double panels) just didn’t seem right for the room. I’m just not a big fan of raised panel doors anyway.

It originally had a very old-looking built in stove…

…so I did end up replacing the lower cabinets on the stove side of the kitchen. I just used stock cabinets from Home Depot. They’re not a perfect match, but close enough.

And again, you can see the quick view before and after by hovering your pointer over the picture below.

Unfortunately, as soon as we were handed the keys to our new condo, I was a bit too anxious to get the “before” pictures that I didn’t even bother to clear away all of the junk that the previous occupants left behind before snapping some of these pictures. Oh well. You’re getting the truly authentic “before” state of the condo. :).

I actually did manage to clean off the countertops for the “after” picture, though. 🙂

Matt’s favorite thing about the whole kitchen is the tree painted on the wall. I painted it freehand, but it actually started out looking a little different than it looks today. Fortunately, my artistic mom offered her advice on how to fix some of the problem areas on my original tree to make it look better.

And another quick view before and after for you. Just hover your pointer over the picture below.

And of course, one thing that makes my kitchen feel complete now is my new pantry. It started out as a bookcase, and not a very pretty one.

But now it’s pretty andfunctional…

And one last quick view before and after. Hover your pointer over the picture below.

Okay, it’s a tiny room, but it took three (or four) years to get to this point, so I took tons of pictures. 🙂 Here are just a few more…

My waterproof artwork above my sink is one of my favorite things. No matter how wet or dirty it gets (and I’m pretty messy at the sink), all I have to do is wipe it off with a sponge and it looks good as new.

I actually get quite a bit of use out of my magnetic spice board. I guess you can tell, since a couple of them are empty. Ha!

And one last view of my “new” countertop. I wish I had done them like this way back when I first installed them. I love the way they look when they’re freshly oiled, and the medium brown color is just perfect. I didn’t always think that. I was convinced I wanted dark stained countertops, but I really do love the natural medium brown color.

WOW! It looks so gorgeous. Of course I’ve been following along with your other projects and got a sneak peak at the gorgeous cabinet color, but seeing it in it’s entirety is awesome. Beautiful work. Looking at all your DIY projects in the space, I’m still contemplating whats my favorite… Great work Kristi! xo Jenna

WooHoo!! You did it! And it’s gorgeous. I’m with Matt….the tree is fabulous and makes the room. But…so do the ‘new’ countertops. I really think they breath life into your sweet space. Can’t wait to see how the adjoining area comes together.

Juliane

That is truly a night and day make-over. I love how much of the bones of the old kitchen were re-used, and I don’t think most people would look at the before and think there was a single thing left from the old kitchen. You really did an incredible job of it!

You rocked it!! It looks so amazing – from the counters to gorgeous color cabinets to that fun tree, you turned an 80s nightmare into a stylish pad!
4 years – but worth the wait! Pinning that tree – it’s fabulous (your moms tips paid off)!
Kelly

Wow–what an incredible transformation! Really a testimony to the power of paint. We just finished a long-in-th-works bathroom reno, so I know how much work your kitchen was and how good you must feel to have it done. Love that cabinet color!

Deborah H

What a beautiful transformation! It all takes so much time, but, in your case, so worth it!!! Congratulations and thanks for inspiration. We are going through the same process, but with a whole house!! Yikes! 2 1/2 years and counting. The painted cabinets with the wooden countertops are just wonderful!

Nikole

Kristi, your kitchen looks amazing, from the new ceiling all the way down to the floor! The cabinet color is fresh and updated, and I want to put in those same wooden countertops when we redo our kitchen. I am in awe of your tree on the wall, too! Gorgeous!

[…] kitchen ceiling October 10, 2012 By Kristi Linauer Leave a Comment On Monday when I posted the before and after of my kitchen, I left out the info in my ceiling. Many of you noticed that it was different than in the […]

[…] soon October 15, 2012 By Kristi Linauer Leave a Comment Last week, I finally finished up my kitchen makeover, and this week I hope to finish up my dining area makeover (just a handful of projects left!!), and […]

Carolyn

What a beautiful makeover! I found you from the Texans Who Blog group, so glad I did, you have so many great project ideas. My favorite part is the color combination of the cabinets and countertops. I pinned this to Pinterest.

kathy Gervasio

October 21, 2012 at 10:50 pm

I loved your kitchen so much I went to Home Depot the same day I saw it. the man in the paint dept was able to locate the paint on their machine, said it was not a Behr color, and made a sample that was almost white. definitely not your beautiful blue.

Rebecca

October 22, 2012 at 8:07 pm

Beautiful Kitchen! Where did you get your sink? I’d like to keep my original cabinets in my kitchen, but the sink base is only 20 inches deep from front to back…so I have been having issues finding a sink that would fit there, but yours looks like it might. Thanks!

Lea

January 23, 2013 at 10:17 pm

Kristi, you are AMAZING! Your creativity and talent leaves me speechless! I LOVE what you’ve done with your condo, and it has give me a lot of good dreamin’ for our old house. Thank you! I’m so glad I’ve found your website!
Lea

Kelli

March 5, 2013 at 6:49 pm

Thank you so much for sharing your butcher block counter saga. Our Ikea wood counters arrive tomorrow and I was pretty sure I really wanted them darker and was contemplating all kids of options until I read your blog. I think you just saved me lots of time and frustration. They do look nice natural by the way! Now if my hubby and I could just agree on a backsplash…

Ruann

March 14, 2013 at 5:15 pm

First of all, your kitchen is beautifully transformed and so warm/inviting. Next, I think you need to make and sell some of these things! I do not enjoy making these types of things, but I love to buy unique things for my house!! I would love to buy both the spice rack and the tree (made as a wall decal!) There — I just started a business for you, and I would be your first customer:)

Merida

April 26, 2013 at 10:05 am

I just wanted to say that I happened upon your picture of the chalkboard door on pinterest and was blown away. I have a HVAC door like that and its one of the first doors you see when you walk into my house. I have been trying to figure out what to do to make it look better and now I know what I am going to do! CHALKBOARD! Then I kept looking through your blog and saw your kitchen and was amazed! Because I painted my kitchen cabinets a similar color! What good taste we have! Glad I found your blog!

Mary

May 26, 2013 at 9:37 am

I am in love with everything you have done! I have been wanting to spruce up our small dated kitchen for a while so I am blatantly using all the wonderful ideas you have shared. The best part is my Husband likes them too! (you can now add peacekeeper to your resume:) One question…where did you get the cabinet hardware? (pulls, hinges, just all of it) Thank you!

OMG! Absolutely amazing, this is a night and day difference. I love the cabinet color, the ceramic tile subway backsplash, the floors all of it. It is so perfectly decorated as well. I have to admit, my favorite is the spice rack wall board, cute idea!

Yolanda

June 18, 2013 at 3:20 pm

This is so amazing! It is stellar! I had a question about your counter tops. When you chose a different sink, did you have it installed first, then had IKEA work around it, or did you have to pick the counter top first and chose the sink to fit the counter top? Sorry, don’t know how that stuff works, and I would really like to do that counter top! it looks really great! Thanks for sharing all your tips. 🙂

Tiffany Hartman

June 27, 2013 at 12:57 pm

I absolutely love this kitchen! The hand painted tree with the birds is such a unique touch! It reminds me of the pillows I design using my nature photography. If you love this element check out my pillows at http://www.tahoe1969design.com.

[…] about it). My goal here isn’t to convince everyone that they need an orange front door, or teal kitchen cabinets, or a big tree painted on their kitchen wall. But if I’ve inspired anyone to get over a […]

Debra B Chavous

July 28, 2013 at 2:51 pm

I LOVE YOU! I love how you DIY so many projects. I have always had to make, fix, redo, update it myself, on very low budget. I went to the Ikea site. I would love to order the counter top or make the cedar one for my bathroom. When I order from Ikea online… How should I cut the sink hole?

That’s actually the one thing I hired out. Because I wanted an undermount sink, I knew the sink hole had to be perfect (or close to it), and I didn’t trust myself to do it. So I hired someone. He charged me $50 to cut the hole and get it all sanded down smoothly.

After watching him, I realize that I could have done it myself. He used a circular saw to cut the straight sides, and a jigsaw to cut the rounded corners. Then he used a belt sander and a circular sander to sand and smooth the cut edges.

Cheryll Guertin

December 29, 2013 at 1:49 am

Wow! I am an interior designer too.. (retired) I couldn’t believe it when I saw your kitchen..It is so much like my own.. the gray-blue cabinets.. my wall color is a light blue-gray. All the accesssosries including the knobs and pulls are in cobalt blue. Brushed nickel faucet, and fixtures throughout which includes the attached dining room. Your wall color is the color of my kitchen and door drapes.. I adore your wall treatment with the tree and birds.. It’s funny, everyone elses house gets designed, but your own, it’s the last to get any detailed design (at least that was my case). Now I’m having fun in my own home.. Would love to share ideas with you and your bloggers, if you are willing.
~Cheryll

Lynn

January 6, 2014 at 10:17 am

Hi Kristi…I am new to your blog and am enjoying hours of viewing all your remodeling you have done over the years that are absolutely beautiful. The condo is outstanding…… the kitchen is my favorite. I have a question..what did you do with the microwave…I do not see it anywhere in that kitchen. I see you replaced it with a hood above the stove which looks great btw, but how do you live without a microwave? The tree mural is gorgeous..it is giving me an idea on what to do on a wall in my stairway to my theater room in our basement, I love this idea and will take a few things from yours yet do it a little different. Thank you for sharing your talents with us…can’t wait to see your newest house done, wish I lived close..I’d be peeking in the windows all the time..lol! You are one very talented lady!

[…] a brush and get a near-flawless finish. These are the exact steps I used to paint the cabinets in my condo kitchen, and the paint job on those was still going strong when we moved on October. I used oil-based […]

[…] what you pay for), but it gets the job done, and has seen me through several projects, including the backsplash in the kitchen condo, John & Alice’s bathroom makeover, and now this project, with a few smaller projects […]

[…] I do realize that my comfort zone would be considered daring for lots of people, considering that I had teal cabinets in the condo), and do some really fun, daring things that I might feel more reluctant to try if this were the […]

winnie

March 3, 2014 at 3:01 pm

I have a galllery kitchen ,too and I stay in apartment . They didnt want me to paint …but the cabinets were ugly. I found a solution OLD ENGLISH SPRAY FURNISH…..I did not paint …but it looks …sooo nice. Their kitchen give me so many ideas to try …Thank you …you are awesome!

Janette

I love all of your projects! So creative AND inspirational. Design style is much important for planning a kitchen. I am much impressed by your information and I will keep in mind all the things, which you have shared for designing my kitchen.

Lindsay Trausch

Christine

May 18, 2014 at 9:23 pm

I love the color of your cabinets so I went to get the paint today and the color is VERY teal/aqua compared to the photos. I even went to both chain stores and each mixed it the same aqua. So I had Home Depot add a bit of gray and it came out perfect. Not sure if their formula has changed but if you’re wanting the smoky blue hue you see here, beware and ask them to add a dose of gray.
I just finished coating my bathroom cabinets and will hang them tomorrow! So excited and was inspired by your blog. Thanks for sharing!

[…] through and used the tried and true oil-based paint in a satin finish. That’s what I used in the condo kitchen, and I always loved how those cabinets turned out. And the paint was very durable. The problem […]

Great job on your kitchen! May I ask what color and brand of grout you went with? We are using white subway tile from Lowes (not the brightest white but softer) and trying to find a matching white grout to make it seamless. The first one we tried was too bright so it made the tile look creamier. Looks like you found a great match! Thanks 🙂

Well, I actually didn’t find a great match with the grout. I ended up painting my grout. 🙂 I just used latex paint in either a satin or semi-gloss finish (can’t remember which one), and used my finger to smear it on, and then wiped off the excess with a wet rag. Worked great! It still looked great when we moved out of the condo last October. The color I used is Polar Bear by Behr from Home Depot.

Stephanie Roberts

October 26, 2014 at 12:27 pm

Hi. I love the color you painted the cabinets and want to do the same in my kitchen. I went to Home Depot today to find the swatch for Behr’s “Hallowed Hush” and was surprised to see how different it looked from the pictures on your blog. On the swatch the color seems much lighter and looks more aqua than grey. Will it look different once it’s painted on the cabinets? I also have the same question for the wall color “Rich Creme”. It looks much lighter and more yellow on the swatch.

You’ll need to purchase a sample and test it in your room. Colors can look drastically different from room to room depending on lighting and many other factors. Hallowed Hush looks dark on these cabinets, but I tried it in the living room of the house we now live in, and it was way too light, but the living room also has three windows, including one 9-foot window, so it gets a lot more light than the condo kitchen got. There’s no way I can tell you how these colors are going to look in your house.

Brooke

February 15, 2015 at 8:39 pm

Love your butcher block! I was considering doing mine darker, but the more I look at pictures like this, the more I want to go lighter. Did you stain these? If so, what is the color of the stain? Thanks!

Liz

March 2, 2015 at 5:24 pm

Hi! Your kitchen is going to be my inspiration! I love the colors! LOVE!

The backsplash…is the white hard to keep clean? I have white cabinets currently and by mid summer they’re going to match yours! The white cabinets are so hard to keep clean, so I’m very skeptical about the white back splash…

Gayle Arebalo

March 13, 2015 at 12:49 am

Who cares that it took 3 years….it is beautiful. This renovation stuff is a lot harder than it looks! I am redoing a condo from 1970. Stripped a living room wall this week. 3 layers of wallpaper and 4 colors of paint. Crazy! But my question for you is about the size of your sink. Our cabinet base is only 22″ and I hoped to be able to get a bigger sink but everyone is advising no. Can you tell me the length of your entire counter top with the sink and how wide is your sink? Thank you ever so much.

The cabinet are 24 inches deep, and the countertop is something like 25.25 inches deep and 8 feet long. I don’t remember the exact dimensions of the sink, but I don’t think it would fit a countertop that’s only 22 inches deep. I don’t live there anymore, or I would measure for you. I found that sink on Ebay.

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